Why Natural Language Processing is Important for Startups, SMBs, and Enterprises

What is Natural Language Processing?

Natural language processing is simply a sub-branch of AI (artificial intelligence). It is a technology that has the ability to study human language and extract the most sense. NLP mimics human cognition through an understanding of the language, analysis of the context, and evaluating it to comply with an instruction or giving back a fixed response.

How Natural Language Processing Works?

Natural language processing makes use of ML technology. Machine learning technology, which is also under the umbrella of artificial intelligence, centers on the storage of words in the form of data. Machine learning technology has the ability to store books, sentences, and phrases before they are processed according to different filters such as linguistics, grammatical rules, and others. During this process, the machine learning algorithms unravel the intricate patterns and trends within the content and predict what comes next.

Now, natural language processing makes use of this inherent ability of ML and advances further by understanding the context behind the phrases or sentences, evaluating it, and then completing a given task.

Natural Language Processing Applications

NLP has a plethora of everyday applications. In fact, so many people are oblivious of the importance of Natural Language Processing and how much they are using the technology in carrying out their daily tasks. A good example of NLP applications is chatbots.

Chatbots basically function through the combination of natural language processing and ML technology. They are primarily ML algorithms that enable businesses to optimize their customer support services by providing unhindered support for customers.

Another prime example of a natural language processing application is also voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa. These applications have the ability to listen to and act based on the human language. The spell check functionality is also a popular example of NLP applications.

Why is Natural Language Processing Important for Startups?

In order for startups to survive and experience growth, they must be able to save both time and money. Startups also need competent and dedicated customer service that will actually distinguish them from other competitors and secure customer loyalty.

The following are some of the importance of Natural Language Processing for startups:

• Provide real-time and helpful customer service

  In terms of managing a startup, there are several challenges that an entrepreneur would have to face. From insufficient resources to cash limitations and others, all of which puts the business at a disadvantage when compared to more successful enterprises.

  Now, to attract customers and retain them, it is necessary for startups to make themselves unique and different from the other established players in the sector. And since large enterprises may boast more customers and a wider range of products, startups stand the chance to make a good head start by implementing real-time and dedicated customer support service via the help of natural language processing.

  This already discusses how chatbots are transforming the way organizations provide customer support services, and startups can have a competitive advantage when they integrate these chatbots, to provide credible and real-time support services to customers.

  Today, the increasing developments in NLP technology imply that chatbots are not only useful in responding to queries with predetermined answers, but they even have the capacity to learn and act smartly. In addition, chatbots can be used to share useful links that will help customers obtain detailed clarifications to their queries.

  To add as well, the advancements in machine learning technology indicate that chatbots even have the capability to understand the intentions, and context of customers, and are consequently able to respond with useful and valid answers.

  Thanks to all these amazing features, startups are definitely going to benefit a lot by providing their customers real-time and dedicated support services, ultimately gaining the loyalty of the customers, and improving the image of their brand in the market.

• Save money and time

  Another major challenge startups face is the lack of sufficient resources to manage several business aspects. Startups typically want to devise ways and strategies to save time and money in order to execute their business continuity plans and natural language processing offers just the perfect tools to assist them.

  Chatbots are again another useful tool for startups to save plenty of funds by implementing automated bots to handle customer service, rather than recruiting many sales representatives. A particular study reports that chatbots have the potential to decrease the cost of customer support by as much as 30%! Any startup will find that is indeed a significant amount to save. Additional to the money-saving is that these automated bots also save more time for the employees, allowing them to focus on key business activities that will lead to the achievement of the business goals.

Why is Natural Language Processing Important for SMBs?

Okay, it is pertinent to expound that startups are not the only ones that stand to gain a lot from NLP technology. SMBs also have a lot to benefit from different functionalities and features offered by NLP. Below are some NLP applications that demonstrate why natural language processing is important for SMBs too.

• Moderation for user-generated content

  The key challenge for SMBs is to maintain focus on their reputation. As usual, since they are in competition with more established businesses with fatter budgets and a wider range of products, SMBs must be extra attentive to their customer services and online reputation. And that’s where natural language processing comes in to save the day!

  When SMBs leverage NLP-based solutions, they are able to detect, spam, and restrict unwanted content from the Internet. As already established, it is necessary for SMBs to be more attentive to the status of their online reputation, as it can take only a single negative remark to tarnish their reputation in a day. Hence, NLP-based solutions assist SMBs in keeping track of all the reviews, comments, and every other user-generated content that identifies that brand.

  The NLP solution also enables SMBs to quickly identify user-generated contents that associate the brand name of certain words such as “forbidden”, “spam” etc. This will consequently help them to respond timely or take other significant actions to shield them from being a victim of online spam.

  More recent NLP solutions even have the capacity to detect hate speech even when the content contains no offensive words. This is possible because of the huge volume of data that is inputted into the system, as well as their capacity to analyze the context behind the sentence and notify businesses.

• Increase your conversion rate

  Another crucial issue facing SMBs is how to boost their conversion rates to thrive and expand. Although several marketing methods are targeted at optimizing the conversion rates for SME businesses, none of them is as effective as NLP-based solutions.

  By using NLP-based solutions, businesses are better positioned to strategically optimize their conversion rate, while having the least cost of acquisition. Advance navigation, chatbots, search functionalities, and complete text are some of the key features that allow SMBs to develop a captivating website to attract more customers and increase their conversion rates.

Why is Natural Language Processing Important for Enterprises?

• Improve end-user experience

  Do you know the secret behind Amazon is the largest online store? It lies in their ability to streamline the entirety of the user experience. The giant online retailer utilizes techniques such as ML and natural language processing to provide a seamless and smooth buying experience for customers; from the moment they open the website to the checkout stage and even the process of fulfillment.

How large enterprise utilize NLP to optimize end-user experience

• Semantic search engines allow users to find anything they need conveniently
• Chatbots: providing immediate, children and reliable customer support
• Content Moderation Tools: assists businesses in monitoring their online reputation and taking necessary measures on time.
• Increase employee satisfaction: everyone knows that when your employees are satisfied, they will ensure your customers are satisfied as well. NLP solutions help businesses to enhance employee satisfaction through the automation of several redundant tasks. This gives the weekend workers extra time to focus on core or innovative business aspects, which consequently improves the overall business performance.

The following tasks can be automated via NLP-based solutions:

• Classifying emails
• Spell checks
• Processing and filtering documents for specific keywords
• Providing answers to repetitive questions
• Data entry
• Customer servicing
• Moderating comments; and
• Others

Conclusion

Although NLP is still in its early stages, the technology is constantly being used by businesses across several industries. NLP technology has the capability to help you optimize your business workflow processes and attain increased productivity and efficiency. Now is the time to start leveraging the importance of natural language processing for startups, SMBs, and enterprises.